Kahi Coffee : Kenyan Light Roast
Alexander from Kahi Coffee, was kind enough to send over a Kenyan sample that he’d roasted. I’ve decided to give his coffee a shot this Thursday morning. After all, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve bothered to do a roast myself, and I’m running out of fresh roast. Naturally, I’m getting ready for work, so I don’t have the time to go through a proper cupping process, but we do what we must, and I need coffee. Cracking the seal on the simple, and minimalist Kahi bag with an unusually creative and well-designed, south pacific-styled logo, produced a burst of aroma.
How I love this moment. Nothing quite like it first thing in the morning. It wakes up the senses and seemingly creates happiness in every remote corner of my consciousness.
The Coffee is a lighter roast than what I normally drink. That’s ok. I should always be ever-evolving and learning. I should have learned by now to be perpetually roast-level agnostic, but I have a bad habit of defaulting to a medium roast. I know I really should defer to the best roast level of any particular coffee, but my laziness has been winning for far too long lately. Roasting to 2nd crack is just easier, and the coffee just good enough anyway.
Today, I’m going to make the most of this opportunity to appreciate Alexander’s excellent roasting skills and choice of roast level.
Drip grind is my choice. My burr grinder rips through 64oz. of beans in a whole 6 seconds. I’ll next use a pour over technique in my automatic Behmor Brazen 2 Plus. How about we round things off with a gold filter and water hitting the grind at 204F. Maybe that’s not an ideal temperature? Is someone going to tell me 197 would be better? Who cares? I need coffee.
That first sip of fresh-roasted, fresh-brewed coffee happens to be one of the best moments of my day.
Aroma of the coffee, while not having the time to wait the requisite 15 minutes post grind, has a slight chocolate and pleasant aroma, with no other discernible notes. In a normal cupping situation, typically a person would let the coffee cool to 160F before tasting, but it’s early and I’m late for work and I really need my morning coffee. Let’s get at this thing. First impressions, the coffee has a fragrance fruitier than I’m used to, likely attributable to the lighter roast. Notes of Raisin in the fragrance.
Now for the moment I’ve been waiting for. It’s 7AM. It’s quiet in the house and this might be the highlight of my whole day. Flavor contains definitive notes of Raisin, Prune, Tamarind with Cacao notes on the backside, which were foretold by the previous fragrance. Is that a pinch of Plum? Interesting. I’m going to try to savor this moment for just 10 seconds. If I can just stay in this moment my whole day could be better.
One of the more introspective coffees I've tasted of late. This just might renew my personal interest in lighter roasts.
As the coffee cools, The raisin, prune remains with notes of grapefruit now coming out at the back of the tongue. Aftertaste is quite pleasant, coffee on the acidic side, slightly sour, light to medium body. Those renowned characteristic wine notes in Kenyan coffees were not noted in this sample. Coffee likely lands in the 85-89 scored range. All-in-all an excellent job by Kahi Coffee.
This Kenyan offering proves delightful, and curious with plenty of flavor to explore. I’ll be looking forward to drinking this coffee as my morning go-to for a few days. Thanks to Alexander over at Kahi coffee for this delightful morning cup, making my morning, and for renewing my curiosity for the lighter roast levels. If you’d like to try some of Kahi’s exceptional offerings, head over to
https://kahiroastingco.com to taste their exceptional roasts for yourself.
About RK Drums
RK Drums has been providing roasting advice for coffee aficionados and small business owners for over 15 years. We specialize in making coffee roasting accessible to anyone who wants to roast, and sell complete solutions to roast coffee using a barbecue grill.
